Andrew Solomon

Born in New York, Andrew Solomon studied at Yale University and then at Jesus College Cambridge, where he was graduated first in the university, becoming the only foreigner ever to be so-honored. In 1988, he began his study of Russian artists, which culminated with the publication of The Irony Tower: Soviet Artists in a Time of Glasnost. He was asked in 1993 to consult with members of the National Security Council on Russian affairs; that year he was also named a Contributing Writer of The New York Times magazine. His recently reissued first novel, A Stone Boat, was a runner up for the LA Times First Fiction prize and was on the Village Voice bestseller list.

Solomon's most recent book, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, has so far won him eleven national awards, including the 2001 National Book Award, and is being published in 21 languages. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It has been on The New York Times bestseller list in both hardback and paperback; it has also been a bestseller in every foreign country in which it has been published so far. One year after publication, there are 250,000 copies in print. Among the honors garnered by The Noonday Demon are the Books for a Better Life Award, the Ken Award of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the QPB New Visions Award, the Voice of Mental Health award of the Jed Foundation and the National Mental Health Association, the Lammy for the best gay nonfiction of 2001, the Mind Book of the Year for Great Britain, and the Prism Award of the NDMDA. It was chosen an American Library Association Notable Book of 2001 and a New York Times Notable Book. The New York Times review described it as "All-encompassing, brave, deeply humane...a book of remarkable depth, breadth and vitality...open-minded, critically informed and poetic all at the same time...fearless, and full of compassion."

Solomon has lectured on depression around the world, including stints this year at Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Harvard, and Brown. He has joined the board of Tipper Gore's National Mental Health Awareness Campaign. Additionally, he serves on the boards of Outward Bound (Hurricane Island School), the Alliance for the Arts, the Shakespeare Project, and the World Monuments Fund and is on the Conservators' Council of the New York Public Library. He is a fellow of Berkeley College at Yale University and is a member of the New York Institute for the Humanities. He maintains residences in London and New York and is a dual national.